The Fight Against Child Labor
A report on the national legislative battle to pull children out of mines and factories.
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A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
A year's work in dealing with children who work for a livelihood has just been rounded out by the spring meeting of the trustees of the national child labor committee. It has been a year of legislative changes, with Pennsylvania, as usual, one of the centers of combat. Year after year, against the indifference of citizens, hostility of factory inspection departments, and opposition of powerful interests, the friends of children have fought to secure laws to exclude them from mines and factories. This year, general child labor laws and mining laws were radically changed, the most important gain being a provision requiring adequate proof of age for children seeking employment and the issuance of certificates by school authorities. Efforts to eliminate night work among children were defeated in Indiana, West Virginia, and New Jersey due to the influence of glass manufacturers. However, Delaware, Kansas, North Dakota, and Oklahoma have now added laws forbidding night work for children under sixteen.
“Year after year, against indifference of the citizens, hostility of the factory inspection department and opposition of powerful interests, the friends of the children have fought to secure laws to exclude them from mines and factories.”
While child labor laws are now well-established, this 1909 report highlights a recurring tension in American politics: the friction between corporate industrial interests and the regulation of worker safety. The struggle to secure verifiable age proof mirrors modern debates over tracking labor in supply chains.
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